Bird Seed Poisons Wild Birds

You see the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company had been in the habit of applying banned pesticides to its wild bird food products. In particular, the company applied a chemical known as Storcide II to its bird food despite a warning label for that product that reads "Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife."

Why add a compound toxic to birds to food meant to be eaten by birds? Because Scott didn't want bugs infesting its bird food during storage.

By the time Scotts stopped adding the pesticide in March 2008, the company had sold some 70 million bags of adulterated bird food. The company also submitted false documents to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, distributed pesticides with misleading labels and distributed illegal pesticides. As a result, the EPA slapped the company with $12.5 million in criminal fines and civil penalties.

13. This is corporate ethics at work, not stupid at all. Just amoral.

They determined that the profit to be made by selling poisoned bird seed exceeded the potential fines to be accrued.

This is what happens when we cede our government to corporate ethics. There are a million decisions being made right now, that have to do with the health of our families and our cities. They are being made based on profit, too.

15. I think I need some of this stuff to feed starlings....

18. I imagine Mother Earth might say that about the most prolific, parasitic species of all.

Us.

I think she's in the process of producing her own "poison food" solution to invasive homo sapien cancer. After we're gone maybe all those creatures with no redeeming value will be able to live in peace, finally.

30. I'll see if I can ship you some of ours.....

Here in Missouri, they outnumber humans by about 50:1. Right now they're eating leftover corn in the fields that deer or other mammals would be eating. Meaning those other animals have to find something else for food. In the aftermath of our killer drought, that basically means they go hungry.

16. People, it is always a good idea to buy bird feed from a natural or organic company.

The seller shares your values on protecting birds and nature. The products may cost a little more and take a little longer to get your hands on, but you won't harm birds and other wildlife when you use the feed.

22. This is an excellent example of why it is so dangerous

to cede our government to corporations. Corporations don't have morality. They function for profit and the bottom line, period.

They knew. Someone obviously made a calculation. Continuing to sell the seed and facing any fines or judgments that would come of that was more lucrative than doing the right thing.

We are putting analogous judgments - about war, about environmental issues, about health care, about the treatment of our poor and elderly, about our educational system - in the hands of corporations every single day we don't fight back against the purchase of our government.